The darkness didn't last long. It soon faded away. He was now standing in a grand hall of what he guessed was the tower.

"Welcome." The figure said as it took on human form. The air no longer shook. "So I'm guessing you are the Doctor's son?" He became a tall middle aged man with spiked black hair.

"Break the immersion, why don't you?" Eric's sarcasm slipped out.

"Yea, well you already possess shade abilities." He rubbed his head and looked over his should.

"I don't follow." Eric responded.

"This realm was made to select candidates for the Shade race. But sadly potentials won't arrive until someone hits level hundred at least." He attempts to explain.

"Are you going to explain?" Eric probes.

"Wow, no respect for your elders." He retorted disappointedly. "Anyway you existing is something I didn't expect. I prepared for someone to pick the Shade race, and someone to earn the Shade race, but not half human half Shade. Purposefully weakening your abilities and spawning in the main world, was something I wasn't prepared for. So let me introduce myself, I am Spirit World GM Hades." He begins finishing. "Pleased to meet you," he finished with a smile.

"A: You talk to much

B: You need to be more prepared

C: Can you fix my arm?

D: What about this afterlife estate?" Eric listed the things on his mind.

"Wow, that was surprisingly well organized, you keep surprising me. I'm gonna keep an eye on you." Hades revealed a perverted smile.

Eric took a step back. Staring down Hades, he lifted up the shades gauntlet stuck to his hand, to remind Hades of his question.

"Ah, yes." Hades addresses his questions, "Your arm is meant to be a full body suit. You will need to kill more soul creatures to gain the power of the suit. It will be gone once you return. As for the Estate, we are here. Your room is up the stairs on the left. The Arena is out back, you can battle other Shades or common spirits there. The gates are out front if you have a specific destination." He finished.

"What about food?" Eric asked realizing he was getting bored.

"Well of course! What would be your viand?" Hades responded.

"Viand?" Eric never heard that word.

"Your food of choice." He defined viand.

"Well then, can I get a pepperoni, sausage, and olive pizza?" Eric asked.

"Why that sounds delicious, mind if I join you?" Hades manifested a pizza.

"No not at all." Eric smiled.

A notification rang in his ears and Eric ignored it. They approached a table in the corner of the room. Staring at the pizza, he sat down. The anticipation was making him frantic. The pizza was then plated and placed with grace in front of him. Picking it up he smelt it as if it was the white gold known as panties. Opening his mouth the pizza approached at a frighteningly slow speed. Before his jaw was snapped shut the world went black. Really? What the fuck just happened?

Good morning Ethan Clipson.

*******

Ethan's eyes were painfully opened, it was bright. The sunrise was directly in his eyes. Looking at the time he was greeted by 6:00AM. He was tired, maybe because he got up earlier than expected, maybe because he was up in the middle of the night. Hopping out of the True-Dive system, he greeted his lonely bed. One thing bothered him as he fell back asleep. He really wanted some pizza.

*******

Waking up at 7:10AM he quickly got ready for school. Skipping breakfast he knew he was going to be hungry later. He mounted his bike and took off for school.

It felt weird being in this world again. It was almost like getting back from break. He experienced so many hours of game time that it felt weird to finally be back to his routine. Parking his bike behind the trees in the staff parking lot, he started towards school. Today is Thursday on top of it.

As it was the previous day everyone in the school was showing off their stats. Except, unlike Godden most students didn't want to give the tactical advantage to potential opponents, so they kept their skills hidden. Their names, patrons, locations, and even races all varied greatly. Not one person had access to a platinum race like him. Even in the Gamer click there was only three people that had the gold membership. Apparently it cost a lot of money. Everyone had levels ranging from 8-30.

Godden had his level at 30, which was 5 levels above the next competitor. Life went as expected, most people still had conversations about stuff other than the game.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Jessica broke up with her boyfriend and Joe quit football. Nothing different than he was used to. He had a paper for the Newspaper Club due tomorrow. But he had yet to decide what to write about, all of the other newspaper club members were doing something on RMO. He on the other hand wanted to focus on real life, because its been a while.

Ethan decided to eavesdrop on a group of friends.

"Eclipse is playing RMO?" Boy 1 questions.

What did Godden sell me out?

"What's so good about him? All he does is write newspaper articles." Girl 1 is oblivious.

"He is the one of the top gamers around the world, and no one has seen his face, the fact that our Eclipse and that Eclipse might be the same means he goes to this school!" Boy 2 gets worked up.

Boy 1, Girl 1, and Girl 2 stare at boy 3 in doubt.

"Why does that matter?" Girl 2 inquired.

"Because he is like the superstar of the gaming world."

"I know he lives nearby, not that he goes to Neet!" Godden shows up yelling at boy 1.

"Sorry!" Boy 1 was getting nervous.

Since when did getting powerful in the game mean getting powerful in real life? Ethan asked himself.

He had a topic. Getting up he started to investigate it. Good thing his next period was study hall. He decided to work all through lunch too. His stomach protested but he ignored it.

*******

After school he dropped by the newspaper club right as Ms. Waltz ran out to use the bathroom. Dropping his story on her desk the title read:

Parallel Powers

Life Vs. Games

He found it was pretty creative. *Bang* the door slammed behind him.

"Got you!" She felt triumphant as other voices were whispering behind him.

He identified the voice right away, it was Allison, the leader of the newspaper club. Guessing by the voices the other club members were present as well. His main escape route was blocked. Looking at the windows he noticed that two students were stationed there as well.

"As you know by now, we got you surrounded. We even have Jonny waiting at Mrs. Waltz's car, and Jenny is tailing her. You were pretty hard to corner." Allison declared.

Did his awareness dull? It did, he forgot to check for lookouts because he wanted to go home and play RMO! He had less than ninety-five seconds until Ms. Waltz was back, if he was lucky.

He had to figure out a way to stall them. Seeing how he was hostage he decided to ask "What are your demands?" In a stern voice.

"Fufufu, I'm glad you understand your position." The smile that dawned upon Allison's face sent chills down Ethan's back, and he wasn't even looking at her.

He snuck a glance at Allison, her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail revealing her angular face and deep brown eyes. The worst thing though, was the Evil smile that was still plastered on her face. The other two students looked uninterested. He couldn't even see their faces. Looking back at the window he took note of how the students were watching the birds in the trees. It seemed the only person that wanted to be here was Allison.

"Now, I want to conduct a little interview." She said cheerfully.

"Lay it on me," he played along, "what's the worst that can happen?"

"You do understand that I'm going to expose you!" Allison was still worked up.

"I really got to go, you know, RMO." He gave ground.

"Aha, so you are Eclipse!" She started shaking.

"I thought you figured that out when you trapped me." He teased her.

"I mean the gamer!" She was flustered.

"Assuming isn't news." He lit the fuse.

Her face got red. Heels could be heard coming down the hall. Allison soaking in her rage did not notice. "Why you little-" she was cut off by him.

"Besides, it is I who trapped you." He planted a seed of fear in her.

On cue the door handle jiggled causing Allison to panic. Acting quick when everyone was turned away, he open the window all the way and dived into the cupboard. It was a tight space, he hoped she would fall for it.

"Open up!" Ms. Waltz ordered.

Freaking out Allison was fumbling with the lock. After opening the doors successfully she apologized to the teacher, before turning around. Her eyes were wide with shock, Eclipse was gone! Running to the window she scolded the students that were still staring at the birds. After storming out of the room in a fit of rage, the students let out a heavy sigh.

"Let's go play Real Magic," student one suggested. With those five words, the mood lightened and the students dispersed.

After two minutes Ms. Waltz spoke, "You can come out now."

Slipping out he asked, "What gave me away?"

"Your shirt was hanging out of the crack." Revealing another blunder of his.

I need to focus more on real life when I'm here or I'm done for.

Giving his thanks to the teacher, he left for home.

He got to the parking lot and climbed onto his bike. He began riding out noticing Godden next to Ms. Waltz's pickup truck, not a very classy vehicle. At first he didn't know why, but soon realised he was the lookout for Allison. Now that he thinks about it she did start dating him as soon as the game came out. He is probably the reason she was trying to trap him. He didn't waste time as he spend off for the river path.

The river was beautiful. This was the perfect conditions for riding. The breeze was cooling on the warm day. Passing by the Riverside Pizza Parlour, his stomach protested due to his unsatisfied cravings. He kept going for another five blocks before his craving got the best of him.

Hey, even gamers got to eat!

Turning around, he ordered a sausage, olive, and pepperoni pizza to go. Receiving the pizza he took it to his bike. Wedging the pizza box between his hands and handlebars he slowly rode home, to prevent the instant death of pizza that would be road kill.

Arriving home he engulfed four pieces of pizza before diving into the true dive system. 6pm-6am was when servers were online. During the log-in sequence he remembered where he left off. After careful consideration he decided to go back to the main world and raise his level. After all the afterlife area didn't have high experience monsters.

He was suddenly sitting at a empty table. Getting up he walked around. The GM probably knew he was here. Looking at his arm, the gauntlet remained unchanged. He wondered how many spirits it would take to get the full body armor. Probably more than he was willing to waste his time on.

The GM did say that it would disappear in the main world right?

Exiting the building he approached the stone arches, and was then prompted to travel. The only destination unlocked was his estate. Tapping it the stone arch was filled with a swirling vortex.

"Back to square one," he said with a sigh.

******************************

And another chapter was released. I am trying to find a good balance between school life and game life. Thinking about giving him an obsessive girlfriend that..... on second thought forget what I just typed. I would erase it but some people like teasers.